Arch supports



June 24, 1958 M. PAPPAS ARCH SUPPORTS Filed May 22, 1957 IN VENTOR MRE PAPPA@ MWL f3 1314 ATTORNEY United States Patent O ARCH SUPPORTS Mike Pappas, New York, N. Y.

Application May 22, 1957, Serial No. 660,900

1 Claim. (ci. 36-71) This invention relates to an arch support and has as its primary object the provision of an improved arch support adapted to aford support to both the middle arch and the metatarsal arch.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an improved arch support having means whereby the thickness of the padding supporting either arch may be easily and effectively increased in the event that such padding is compressed by long usage or in the event of deterioration of the condition of the arch.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a plurality of inserts which may be selectively inserted into the supporting pocket in any desired manner whereby the supporting pad may be thickened progressively to any permissable thickness.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an arch support comprised of at least two thicknesses of leather or similar material stitched together to form a pocket having a longitudinal opening and an intersecting transverse opening normally opening into the inner end and one side of the support respectively, the pocket being adapted to be held closed by the pressure of the foot on the support but not otherwise secured.

Still another object of the invention resides in the provision of the supporting padding in the form of relatively thin resilient or semi-resilient inserts which may be of felt, hard rubber, sponge rubber or any other suitable material.

Another object of the invention is the provision of such a support which is readily removable and replaceable in the shoe and which may be adapted to any size shoe by trimming the edges. This may be done either by a cobbler or by the user himself.

A still further object of the invention resides in the provision of means, comprising the inserts above mentioned, whereby the thickness of the padding may be adjusted to maximum comfort by the individual user and varied as desired.

Further objects reside in the provision of an arch support which is sturdy and durable in construction, reliable and ecient in operation and relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out as the description of the invention proceeds and shown in the accompanying drawing wherein there is ldisclosed a preferred embodiment of this inventive concept.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of one form of arch support embodying the inventive concept.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan'view of the support of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 3 3 of Figure 2 as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Figure 2 as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Patented June 24, 1958 Figure 5 is a reduced perspective view of one of the longitudinal padding inserts, and,

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the transverse padding elements.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Ha ing reference now to the drawing in detail, there is generally indicated at 10 a top plate, including a straight forward edge 11 and an arcuate rear edge 12 adapted to abut the interior of the heel portion of a shoe. Plate 10 is adapted to be superposed on a Ibottom plate 13 of generally similar configurations but of lesser extent.

Plates 10 and 13 are adapted to be secured together by one or more lines of stitching 14 conforming in general conguration to that of the plates but located well within the edge of the smaller plate to permit trimming of either or both plates to a desired size. When secured together the front edge of the plate 13 is aligned with the front edge 11 of plate 10 whereby stitching 14 forms a longitudinal pocket 16, the pocket 16 being open as at 17 along the aligned edges of plates 10 and 13. Stitching 14 is also broken away at an intermediate side portion as at 18 to form a transverse opening into longitudinal pocket 16.

inserts 20 of any suitable maten'al such as leather, rubber, felt, sponge rubber or the like, are adapted to be inserted through opening 17 into pocket 16. The inserts 20 are formed with a rounded inner end 21 to conform to the configuration rof the pocket 16. If desired they may be formed of two or more thicknesses of material as shown at 20a and 20b (Figure 5).

Substantially rectangular inserts 22 are adapted to 'be inserted through opening 18 into pocket 16.

As previously pointed out any desired number of inserts 20 and 22 may be inserted within the range of the thickness of the pocket, and as these inserts become compressed due to wear, additional inserts may be inserted or the Worn inserts may be replaced.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is provided an improved arch support which accomplishes all of the objects of this invention and many others in-V cluding many advantages `of great practical utility and commercial importance.

As many embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, and as many modifications may be made in the embodiment herein shown and descri-bed it is to be understoodY that all matter herein is to :be interpreted merely as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

In an arch support, a pair of flexible plates, having a single aligned edge, one of said plates being larger than the other, a connection 'between said plates comprised of a line of stitching extending perpendicularly from the aligned edges of said plates conforming to the configuration of said plates and returning to said aligned edges, providing a pocket between said plates open at the aligned edges thereof, a plurality of flat flexible inserts positioned in said pocket, said line of stitching being broken at a longitudinal intermediate point to provide a second transverse opening to said pocket, and additional at exible inserts transversely positioned in through said second opening.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,464,994 Levitt Aug. 14, 1923 1,551,010 Clark Aug. 25, 1925 1,811,787 Frei June 23, 1931 1,895,327 Horning Ian. 24, 1933 

